The former Russian prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, has announced that he is to run for parliament in elections at the end of September.

The Interfax news agency said he would stand in the oil- and gas-rich region of Yamalo-Nenetsin in the far north of the country.

President Yeltsin sacked Mr Chernomyrdin two months ago after five years in the job.

He's said he will run for president in the year two-thousand.